England should be ashamed of how it treats its elderly, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said yesterday.
It is a “national shame” that there are 800,000 elderly people in society who are chronically lonely, Mr Hunt said.
Many are left isolated because their own family members fail to visit them, the National Children and Adults Services (NCAS) conference in Harrogate heard.
People should examine how they treat their own parents and grandparents, Mr Hunt said.
“We know there is a broader problem of loneliness that in our busy lives we have utterly failed to confront as a society,” he said.
“According to the Campaign to End Loneliness, there are 800,000 people in England who are chronically lonely. Forty-six per cent of people aged 80 or over report feeling lonely some of the time or often. Some five million people say television is their main form of company – that’s 10 per cent of the population. Each and every lonely person has someone who could visit them and offer companionship. A forgotten million who live amongst us – ignored to our national shame.”
Speaking about to the way older people are treated in other cultures, Mr Hunt referred to his Chinese wife, saying he is “struck by the reverence and respect for older people in Asian culture”.
He added: “In those countries, when living alone is no longer possible, residential care is a last rather than a first option. And the social contract is stronger because as children see how their own grandparents are looked after, they develop higher expectations of how they too will be treated when they get old.
“If we are to tackle the challenge of an ageing society, we must learn from this - and restore and reinvigorate the social contract between generations. And uncomfortable though it is to say it, it will only start with changes in the way we personally treat our own parents and grandparents.”
He added: “We may have different roles to play, but together we can challenge society, celebrate and promote best practice, and agree that ‘good enough’ is never enough. And if we persist, we can do something even more amazing: really and truly make this country the best place in the world to grow old in.”
Mr Hunt also raised concerns about abuse of the elderly, telling delegates that 112,000 cases of alleged abuse were referred by English councils in 2012/13, the majority involving over-65s.
“Something is badly wrong in a society where potentially 1,000 such instances are happening every single week,” he said.
Mr Hunt said the new Chief Inspector of Social Care, Andrea Sutcliffe, will act as a champion of the people who use adult social services – the nation’s whistleblower-in-chief.